Down We Fall
by InvaderSplee
Summary: Title changed! Everyone now knows Sam's rich. Soon popularity goes to her head and she insults Tucker and Danny, leaving Danny very upset and angry. Will their friendship survive? Will a depressed Danny ever forgive Sam? R&R! slight humor, bit of angst
1. Chapter 1: Word's out

Chapter 1: Word's Out

It was another typical day in Casper High. Bullies were bullying, teachers taught, and the students sat in their seats in Lala Land until they were embarassed in front of everyone for not paying attention. The only signs of life were between classes and lunch. Sam sat at the lunch table with Danny and Tucker, not saying anything and a blank look on her face. Danny was about to take a bite of his sandwich when he noticed that Sam was just sitting there like a statue. He nudged Tuck and whispered, "What's up with Sam? She hasn't said much since yesterday afternoon."

Tucker finnished chewing and replied quietly, "So? Ask her what's up!"

Danny shot back, "How come I always have to?"

"Because you pointed it out and you always end up asking anyway."

"Oh-right." Danny turned to Sam who barely ate her salad. He wanted to know what was up with his friend, but he knew that when she was uptight, she could attack at any moment. He started slowly, "Sam?"

Sam looked up and said, "Huh? Oh. Hi."

"Umm..are you okay Sam?"

She then had a little breakdown-which wasn't so little to Danny and Tucker. With a nervous smile she turned to him saying shakily, "Sure! I'm just _peachy_ knowing that my brother's stupid filming project exposed our family life to everybody! And that spread through school like a wild fire and now everyone knows that we're rich!"

As she spoke she leaned closer to Danny and Tuck causing them to lean backwards towards the end of the bench. (Tucker was right at the edge by the way!)

"And left and right people all day have been saying 'Hey Sam! I didn't know you were rich' or 'Hey Sam you're rich!' or _my favorite _so far 'Hey it's the popular rich Goth! Why wouldn't I be OK?"

As she yelled that, Tuck and Danny screamed and fell backwards onto the ground with a hard _thud_.

By then all three were shaking-Sam with anger and Danny and Tucker with fright-and shock from hitting the ground so hard. "Ouch..." was all they could say. When Sam was done hyperventalating with anger, she shook her head and asked, "Does that answer your question, Danny?"

Rolling off of Tucker, he sat up slowly and muttered sarcastically, "Yeah, sure. And thanks for making us fall off the bench, Ms. Drama Queen."

"Oh-sorry." She helped him and Tucker up and calmed down a bit. They sat at their table and once again Sam stared into her salad and sighed.

Tucker asked, "What now?"

"Tucker!" Danny hissed and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Tuck, shut it!"

''Sorry" he muttered, returning to his sandwich. Danny glared at Tuck for a moment, then turned his attention to Sam again.

"Sam, what's wrong?"

"I was just thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Well...what if Dash or Paulina wants me to be part of their, you know, _group_? As in, popular and hang out only with them and boss around other people?"

Tucker swallowed his sandwich and said, "What's so bad about that?"

Danny turned to him and answered, "Tuck it's just one of those 'What if' questions."

He turned back to Sam and asked, "You wouldn't want to join them, would you?"

Sam shot back, "No! Of course not! I wouldn't want to be like that-all they do is start out as average people with good friends who care about them, get popular, dump their other friends and make friends with people who don't really care about them."

Danny grinned and asked, "So you're saying that you wouldn't want to blow us off because you love us too much?"

She laughed and responded, "Yeah-right! No seriously, I wouldn't want to hurt your feelings by letting popularity go to my head."

_Like that would ever happen. I would never join those popular failures and leave Danny and Tucker in the dust. Never in THIS lifetime..._


	2. Chapter 2: The Question

Thank you soooooooooooo much for the reviews! I screamed in happiness! U people are so nice-thanx!

Danny loves you all too!

He talks to me! (hee hee-i'm psycho!)

**Disclaimer: **Just like everybody else, I don't own Danny or any other character except for Nick, who comes in later on.

**Another disclaimer: **As for the other popular guy, I don't know if you speel his name Quan or not, so i'll just leave it at that, ok!

**One more disclaimer:** For those of you who saw the episode "Lucky in Love" You'll see that the name of their 'group' is called "The A-List" I'll be using that-even thgough I don't own it. I borrowed, ok!

**Just a side note: **The "thing" that Sam did/said and the thing written in Danny's P.O.V.- It was just an exaggeration. Or not. I don't really know. I haven't really thought of it yet. And about the whole insult thing, Danny just took it harder than Tuck, so it wasn't really THAT bad. I don't really know what's gonna happen yet, but it shouldn't be that much of a shocker. Maybe...Ok, now, chapter 2!

Chapter 2. The Question

The next day, Sam was less tense, Danny and Tucker weren't sore anymore, and everything was better-until they stepped inside Casper High. People stopped talking and looked at Sam as the three of them walked to Sam's locker. The hallways were dead silent and remained like that until Tucker shouted, "Alright, nothing to see here! Move it!" Some of them went to their classes and the remaining few stayed at their lockers.. Danny remarked, "Well, that was interesting." Tuck glanced at him and asked, "And by 'interesting' you mean creepy, right?" "Yup." They heard Sam slam her locker shut and turned around to see her leaning on it, as usual. "Guys, that wasn't just creepy. It was embarassing. We walk in and everyone stares at me until someone tells them to turn around." Tuck answered, "Come on! It was just this morning. I doubt that this'll happen again." " What if it doesn't? What if it starts happening everyday now?" Danny had a feeling she was going to get hysterical and tried to get her out of it. "Sam..." No more privacy!" "Sam!" "Everyone's gonna start calling me "Money Bags" or something!" "Sam!" "I'm gonna end up being the center of attention every waking moment in this place for the rest of my life!" "SAM!" "WHAT!" Danny relaxed and said calmly, "Sam, you're geting hysterical. You seriously need to calm down." "Right. Sorry. Anyway, I'll see you guys second period." "Bye."

Danny and Tuck turned around to see Dash in front of them, smiling evily(I HATE THAT GUY!). "Hey Fenton..." Trembling, Danny replied, "Hey Dash. I don't want any trouble..." Dash pushed Tuck out of the way and backed Danny up into the lockers. "You're overdue for your beating!" He grabbed Danny by the shirt, picked him up and shoved him hard against one of the lockers. Danny tried to get away, but couldn't. Dash raised his fist and was about to throw a punch when a book hit him in the face. "OW!" He dropped Danny and rubbed his cheek. He saw Sam who screamed, "DON'T EVER LAY A FINGER ON HIM, TUCKER, OR ANYONE ELSE AGAIN!" The kids remaining in the hallway said, "Yeah!" Sam stomped towards Dash and threatened, "If you ever hurt my best friends again, I'll hit you harder than that and _not_ with a book, got it?" Actually _shaking_, Dash replied, "Whoa- Manson, I'm sorry. I'll leave them alone, just don't send anyone out to get me!" Then he took of running. Tuck and everyone else cheered, "You go Sam!" Ignoring that, she ran over to Danny and helped him up. "Danny, are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." "What a creep. If I was ever part of that crowd, I'd jump into a three ton pile of..." "Ok, we get it!" Danny said. "Besides, you said you'd never want to be popular, remember?" "Yeah. You're right. Forget I ever said anything."

Later at lunch, Sam was still miffed about what happened earlier. Danny was still shaken, but tried to get Sam out of it. "Come on Sam, it's not like this never happened before." Sam answered, "I know, but I wish it would end. I'm so sick of you guys being bullied by that loser. If I was higher in status than him or any of the other creeps then I could somehow get them to leave you guys alone. And all of the other kids they make miserable could be left alone." Before Danny or Tucker could say anything, Dash was standing right next to their table, along with Quan, Paulina, and Valerie. Sam snapped, "What do you want Dash?" "We were all wondering if you want to be a member of the A-List since you're obviously cool now." Sam, Danny, and Tucker just stare. Dash continues, "You know, one of us? Popular? Boss others around? Get invited to the coolest parties ever?" Sam answers, "Hmm, let me see. uh...NO!" "Why not?" "What kind of question is that? First of all, you are all stuck up losers who don't care about your futures, you constantly threaten us, you make everyone else's lives miserable and you never leave my friends alone! Forget it, I'll never join you creeps." Quan the said, "Well, what if we leave everyone alone?" ''What?" 'Well, if we promise to leave Fenton and Foley alone and never ever bully them again, will you join us?" Sam lightens up and starts to get interested. "Wait, you're saying that if I was to agree to only a trial period, you would never hurt them or anyone else again?" Dash answered, "Right." "And even whe I leave your 'club' you'll still leave them alone?" "Uhh... sure, no problem." "Well, I don't know..." She turned back to Danny and Tuck and asked, "Guys, can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?" They looked at each other and said, "Sure." They got up and Sam sais to Dash, "We'll be right back." "Whatever."

Sam led Danny and Tuck to a corner, slumped down and sighed. "Sam, what's wrong?" Danny asked. "Guys, I was afraid this would happen." "Sam, what are you talking about? Even if it's only for a trial period, they won't bother us anymore." 'It's not that-what if something happens and I get too caught up in it? I guess I'm just afraid of what's going to happen." Danny knelt down next to Sam and put his hand on her shoulder(fluff! sorry, I like that word). He looked into her eyes and said, "Sam, don't worry about that. Just go ahead with it and hang out with them. Before you know it, you'll be back with us and everything will go back to normal. Trust me, I want you to be happy. It could be interesting." Tuck added, "Yeah, Danny's right. It's not like this is permanent. Just say yes and have fun being popular." Sam grinned, got up and answered, "Ok, I'll give it a shot." Danny and Tucker smiled, and said, "Good."

They went back to their table and sat down. Dash asked, "So, are you in or what?" Sam glanced at Danny and Tuck, who gave a thumbs-up. She looked back at Dash and said, "Ok, I'm in. But just for a week, starting tomorrow." Dash gave her that folder thing and told her everything else she needed to know. After they left she put the stuff in her backpack, turned to her friends and muttered, "Well, that was informative. I guess everything starts tomorrow." "Yup," Danny agreed. Tucker said, "Don't worry, the week will go by like that(snapped his fingers). Then you'll hang out with us again and go back to thinking that they're losers." Sam smiled and said, "Yeah. It's only going to be for one week. What's the worst that could happen?"

That's chapter 2! I'll get chapter 3 up as soon as I think of it! Keep the reviews coming dudes! I really appreciate it!


	3. Chapter 3: Last Minute FreakOut

Thank you sooo much for the reviews! They make me sooo happy! Now, chapter 3!

A/N: This chapter will have a tiny bit of Danny/Sam fluff. TINY!

Chapter 3. Last Minute Freak-Out

BBBRRRIIINNNGGG! BBBRRRIIINNNGGG!

"Ahhh!" Danny yelled and fell out of his bed as his phone rang. Half asleep-half awake, he climbed back into his bed and checked the caller ID. It was Sam-at 1in the morning! '_Ok, Sam, this is starting to get on my nerves!_' Danny said to himself. He picked up the phone and muttered, "Hello?" Sam's voice came in from the other line and she sounded nervous and a bit hyper.

"Hi Danny! What's new? How are you? Whatcha doing?" "Ok, in order:You just woke me up for the third time in the past 2 hours, I'm tired, and I'm under my covers wondering why I'm not an insomniac." "Really?" "Yes! Sam, it's 1:00 in the morning. Shouldn't you be sleeping now?" "What about you? Why are you up so early? Go to bed already! See you tomorrow! Bye!" Then Sam hung up before Danny could say anything else. He sighed and put the phone down, but not before turning it off and shoving it in his shirt drawer. He crawled back into his bed and just got comfortable when his cell phone rang. His eyes shot opened and he complained, "No, not again!" He dragged himself out of bed and checked his phone-it was Sam again. He flipped it open and snapped, "SAM, GO TO BED!" He hung up, turned his cell phone off and crawled back into bed again, this time without being interrupted. Before drifting off to sleep he remembered Sam telling him over the phone(when she called the first time) that she hoped hanging out with the popular kids won't change her. "The only change so far is that she's getting on my nerves."

A few hours later, Danny's alarm clock rang and it scared the heck out of him, as usual. He turned off the alarm, slid out of bed and got dressed. After brushing his hair he slowly walked downstairs, slumped down into a chair at the kitchen table, and made a bowl of cereal. He just started to eat when Jazz suddenly said, "Hi Danny!" so loudly it made him hit the ceiling. He snapped, ''What?" "How are you?" He glared at her and asked, "Do I really have to answer that?" Jazz frowned and started her usual morning talk on how being more positive can make things easier when Danny started to doze off again. Jazz asked, "Danny?" Danny's eyes shot open and he muttered, "What? What was that?" Jazz looked at her watch and said, "Wow-new record: 30 seconds. You usually fall asleep or leave after 40 seconds." "Uh, Jazz, that's great, but I really don't care." ''So what? As long as you heard what I was saying, I don't care either!" "Don't you have to call your boyfriend?" Jazz perked up and gasped, "Omigosh! Nick! Thanks for reminding me!" She ran upstairs as Danny rolled his eyes and continued eating.

When he was done he did the rest of his morning stuff and went to meet Tucker at Sam's house, as usual since she lived closer to the school. When he was a few houses away from Sam's house, he saw Tucker nearly asleep at her doorstep. Danny plopped down next to him and sighed. Tuck opened his eyes slowly, yawned and said, "Hey man." "Hey, Tuck. Did Sam call you all night, too?" Tuck yawned and replied, "Yup-four times. How many times did she call you?" "Four, but I just told her to go to bed before she could say anything. Then I turned off my cell phone." "Same here." They sat in silence for a few more seconds when Danny snapped, "Jeez! What's taking Sam so long!" He shot up and was about to ring the doorbell when the door flew open. Danny screamed in surprise and fell backwards on top of Tucker. "Ow..." they both said. Sam looked down and said, "Come on guys, get up! We have to go to school!" She perked up and gasped, ''Omigosh! School! I start hanging out with Paulina and the rest of them today! I'm not ready!" Tucker muttered, "Here we go again!" Danny got up and tried to get Sam to calm down. He put his hands on her shoulders, shook her gently and yelled, "Sam! Snap out of it!" As a response, Sam grabbed onto Danny's arms and took a deep breath. Danny stared deeply into her eyes and said quietly, "Sam, don't worry. Nothing's gonna happen between the three of us." "Danny, I never said-" "Sam, I can tell what you're afraid of. You don't want our friendship to fade. That won't happen. And if it does, it can come back. We're not going anywhere. Besides, a change could be interesting. Give it a shot. Nothing's going to happen." Sam looked down at Tucker, who nodded in agreement. She looked back at Danny and said, "Alright. Sorry if I got on your nerves a bit." Danny smiled. "It's ok." Just then all of them noticed that Danny and Sam were still holding each other. They put their arms down and blushed, then headed towards school. On the way, Danny thought about when he held Sam and tried to calm her down. He had a fluttery feeling in his chest, but shrugged it off. '_It doesn't mean anything,' _he thought to himself. '_It was probably just hormones or something. We're friends, nothing more.'_ Sam also thought about what happened back there. '_He was just trying to calm me down-and it worked. He and Tucker are right. Nothing will happen.'_

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Nothing will happen, huh? Are they right? How will Sam's first official day of popularity turn out? Stay tuned for chapter 4 of Popularity Ends In Betrayal!

Ok, that's chapter three! Keep the reviews coming! And PLEASE, no flames!


	4. Chapter 4: The First Day

Once again, thanks to all of you for reviewing! I've been taking finals, so I haven't posted anything for a while. I'm back though, and my writer's block is almost gone!

Anyway, here's chapter 4!

Chapter 4. The First Day

When they got inside, just like yesterday, everybody in the hallway stared at Sam but stopped when Tucker flashed them dirty looks. The day before, Sam was told to meet Dash and everybody else in the cafeteria around 6:50 after going to her locker. Danny glanced down at his watch. It was 6:49. One more minute. He noticed that Tucker was ok and that Sam was still a little anxious to get the next week over with. He couldn't help but feel strange too. When they got to the cafeteria entrance, Dash and the other people in his 'crowd' were waiting for Sam. Dash said outloud, "Hey Manson, over here!" Sam muttered "One second". She turned around and faced Danny and Tuck. "Well guys, this is it. The beginning of what is probably gonna be the most interesting week of our lives." Tuck cracked, ''Not including 'Spirit Week'?" "No, not including 'Spirit Week'. Well, I guess I'll see you guys later." "Bye Sam." As Sam turned around to go inside, Danny let out a sigh. Tucker slapped him on the back and said, ''Don't worry buddy! This week will go by in no time! Now, let's go. I'm sure they'll have fun." "Doing what?" Danny asked. "How should I know? Popular kid stuff. Sam's gonna be fine." As they turned around to leave, Danny looked back one last time and whispered, "Good luck, Sam."

"...anyway, then after school we usually run home to dump our stuff on the floors of our rooms and go hang out at the Nasty Burgur. That usually takes all afternoon, then we go back to our houses and do other things that don't matter. Actually, we don't do that every day, we rotate , but-you'll get the idea. We usually make plans first. Nothing today, though. It starts tomorrow." Quan informed Sam about what they all do 24/7. It didn't sound too bad. As Sam started to feel better, the bell rang for first period. "Oh man, I'm late!" As she began to panic, Paulina grinned and said, "Since when does that matter? We're late all the time, but the teachers don't really care. Especially when we slip them a few 5's as we walk in. Try it, it could work." Sam sighed, then got herself together and grinned. "Ok. Let's go." Sam had the same first class as Paulina and as they neared the classroom Paulina whispered, "Get the 5's ready, along with a 'hey, how's it going' line, or something else that can butter them up." Sam got out 10 dollars and went behind Paulina. Just as Mrs. Hansen closed the door, Paulina caught it and said, ''Hi Mrs. Hansen, how are you today?" Mrs. Hansen muttered, "Fine. Just take your seat, Ms. Sanchez. Ms. Manson, since when are you late?" Sam took a breath and answered, "Hey Mrs. Hansen, how's it going? I'm pretty sure Mr. Hamilton here says that my lateness is excused, right?" As she said that, she slipped her teacher the 10 dollar bill and smiled smugly. Mrs. Hansen said, "No, no problem. Hamilton is perfectly happy-_in my pocket_!" She whispered that last part outloud and noticed everyone staring. "Ahem-anyway, please take your seat, Sam, and let's get started." Paulina took her seat next to Sam and smacked her a high-five. "Doing great so far Manson!" "Thanks."

For the other morning classes, Sam tried out her new 'charming' techniques. They all worked on all of her morning teachers-she even got a hall pass from Mr. Lancer so she can be late everyday for the rest of the school year without getting in trouble! '_Wow-Paulina's really got something here!' _She was able to sit in any seat she wanted, and for today, it was next to Paulina or any other popular kid in her new 'crowd'. Danny sat in his usual seats in the classes they had together and already started to feel uneasy. When lunch rolled around, Sam felt incredible. Her day was going so well-and Dash kept his promise to leave Danny and Tucker alone, so it was one less thing for her to worry about. Danny and Tuck were sitting at their usual lunch table, and when they saw Sam walk by Tuck called out, "Hey Sam! Over here!" She glanced in their direction and replied, ''Sorry guys" and pointed to the 'popular' table and said, ''I'm hanging with them today, remember?" Tuck frowned and said, ''Oh, yeah-sorry, it's new for us." Sam stared at them and was about to say something, but she heard Dash whistle for her to join them at their table. ''I gotta go, but I'll see you guys after school, ok?" Tuck muttered, "I can't-I'm leaving early for a dental appointment." I'll see you tomorrow though." "Gotcha." During lunch, they all talked about music, how lame most of their teachers are and other stuff. All the time Sam thought, '_I can't believe I used to hate these guys-they're so cool! They're not too lame afterall...' _Especially Paulina. She's not as shallow as Sam thought she was. She was acually pretty cool. And she was really nice to her. This wasn't too bad!

After the last bell rang, Sam went to her locker and went outside to the corner to meet Danny. As she waited, Paulina walked by and said, ''See you tomorrow Sam!" Sam smiled and replied, ''Bye Paulina." Dash and Quan ran by and called out, ''See you tomorrow Manson!" Sam yelled "Bye! Oh, good luck with football practice! Be ready for the game Friday! I'll be there!" "Football? Since when do care about football?" Sam squeaked in surprise as she whipped around to see Danny behind her.

She stammered, ''Danny! I-Iwas just wishing them luck! Nothing else, why?"

Danny shot his hands up and as they started walking he said, ''Nothing, nothing! I'm just saying, how did your opinion about those guys change in one day?"

"Danny, you have no idea what they're like! They're actually pretty cool..." Sam went on about what they did all day, then started talking about each individual person. As they got closer to Sam's house, Danny tried to get Sam's attention, but she continued.

"and Paulina-she's actally was really good actress." "Uh, Sam?" "She quoted this one line from _Scary Movie 3..." "_Sam!" "...and she sounded exactly like Brenda! She's really nice!" "Sam!" Sam stopped and asked, "What? I was talking!" Danny laughed a little and said, ''Uh Sam, we're at your house. You've been talking non-stop for 6 minutes." ''Oh, sorry, anyway I'll see you tomorrow morning, ok?" "Sounds good. Bye Sam." Sam said, "Bye Danny" and shut the door, reflecting how her first day of popularity went.

Ok, sorry it was so boring, but I couldn't think of much. Since testing is over, I'm going to update ASAP!

Also, if you hated it, I PROMISE it will get better! See ya!

**By the way, if you want to see the 'cover' for my story, send me your email adress and I'll mail it to you. (It has Sam's brother Nick with a video camera!)**

My email adress: (its lame, but my mom's friend made it up when he installed AOL into my computer)


	5. Chapter 5: A Total Stranger

Chapter 5. A Total Stranger

Danny and Tucker sat on Sam's front steps drumming their fingers in boredom. She seemed to be taking extra long to get out of the house today. Normally Danny and Tuck would only have to wait a few minutes for Sam to come out, but they sat there for fifteen minutes until Sam finally opened the door. When Danny and Tucker saw her their jaws dropped. She had on a pair of white capris, a baby blue t-shirt and blue slip-on shoes. Her hair was also completely down(no ponytail thingy) and she had on light blue eye shadow. Danny was absolutely mesmerized. _'Woah...' _he thought to himself.

"Well, what do you think?" She slowly spun around and posed.

Danny and Tuck looked at each other, then back at Sam.

"Uhhhh..."

Sam tapped her foot impatiently for them to answer. Finally, Danny snapped out of it.

"Sam, you look-amazing!"

"Really? (_blushing)_ Thanks! Paulina and I went shopping at the mall yesterday. She picked out everything. She said that it would help my image and confidence if I try something new, so she decided to take me shopping for some new clothes that weren't black and this is what she came up with."

Tuck crossed his arms. "Help your image? What's that all about?"

Sam sighed. "And boost my confidence! Weren't you listening?"

Danny muttered, "Sam, Tuck _never _listens-everyone knows that."

Tuck perked up and asked, "Hey, are you guys talking about me?"

Danny and Sam looked at each other and Danny said, ''See what I mean?"

"Yup...so Danny, be honest, do I look ok to you?"

"Sam, you look incredible-I guess Paulina knows what she's doing then."

Then they all started to walk to school.

When they got there the people in the hallway stopped to look at Sam again, but applauded. Left and right people shouted, 'lookin good, Manson!' and the boys whistled at her. Sam for once enjoyed the attention. When she saw Paulina just about to enter the cafeteria she shouted, "Hey Paulina!" Paulina whipped around and squeaked, "Sam! You're wearing your new outfit! You look fantastic!" "I know, thanks!" Paulina grabbed her hand and said, ''Let's go!" Sam turnd to Danny and Tuck and quickly said, ''Guys, I have to go." When she went into the cafeteria, Dash and Quan were all over her, as well as everyone else. '_This feels incredible!' _she thought to herself.

The rest of the day went on like yesterday-Sam got away with being late, she ate lunch with the popular crowd, and Paulina was by her side the whole time making her laugh and treating her like they'd been best friends for years. Sam was never easily convinced about anything. If something she liked was considered 'out' she'd still wear it. She was an individual who marched to the beat of her own drummer, but she never expected to enjoy being popular. She didn't have any problems with her new look or Paulina, or anything. At the moment though, she really couldn't care less. _'I finally found my place. I belong with the popular crowd-no doubt about it.'_ Just because of her new clothes and being with Paulina, she felt different-like a whole new person. Finally, the bell rang. Tuck had to stay after to make up a test he missed 9th period, so it was just Danny who waited for Sam. It was kind of weird since usually Sam made it out of the building before Danny, but Danny waited five minutes until Sam came walking out with Paulina and Dash, all of them laughing. For some reason, Danny got an uneasy feeling inside-he didn't feel comfortable about Sam having such a good time with them after only two days.

"...Ok guys, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!" "Bye Sammy!"

As Sam waved good-bye to her 'friends' Danny asked, "_'Sammy'_? Since when do you let anyone call you that? The last time someone called you 'Sammy' you shoved them into a garbage can-and we were five!"

"Oh come on Danny, lighten up, will you? They're my friends and they can call me what ever they want!"

"Friends? Since when are they your friends?"

Sam flashed him a death-glare and he sighed.

"Sorry Sam. I just think that things are moving a little fast, that's all."

As they started walking Sam smiled and replied, "It's ok. I know you're just being a really good friend and you're trying to protect me. Even though you shouldn't...It's ok, in a few weeks you'll be ok with everything."

As soon as she said that, Danny froze in place.

"What?"

Sam turned around.

''I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"I said that in a few weeks you'll be ok with everything. Paulina will be close friends with you and Tucker, too. You guys would like hanging out with her. She's really a great person to hang out with." Sam smiled and felt more sure about this than anything in the world.

Danny laughed a little and asked, ''So she's not shallow then? After all those times you called her a 'shallow little witch'? And all those times she, Dash and everyone else wouldn't think twice of looking at us? All the sudden in two days they're the coolest people in Casper High?"

By the time he was done he wasn't smiling anymore. In fact, he looked dead serious. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Sam replied, ''Umm, sort of. I guess you can say that." Danny shook his head and started walking again. After a few minutes of silence and as they approached Sam's house he sighed and turned around then said to her, ''Sam, that's a lot to say after spending just two days with them. What will school be like tomorrow? Do you really think they're going to be like that for the rest of the week? Or next week? They're going to end up forcing you to do stupid things that were already coming your way ever since this all started. How do you know they're not pretending to be nice, Sam?" Sam looked down, then back at Danny. His stern stare made her feel even more uncomfortable. She swallowed and replied, "They're not pretending. I can tell. They may be a bit edgy in their own way, but they're fine. Loosen up and stop being so judgemental." Danny sighed and said meekly, ''Sorry, but I can't help feeling like that. I just don't trust them. At all." Sam walked up her steps and put her key into the key hole. She was about to walk in when Danny said, "Sam? Think carefully before you do anything. I don't want you to get into any trouble, and I don't want anything to happen." Danny was being serious, but for once, Sam shrugged it off and just thought he was being stubborn and overprotective-just like the other Fentons. She stepped inside and muttered, ''Bye Danny." When she slammed her door, Danny muttered, ''Bye Sam" and started to walk home. As he trudged along he started thinking _'How can she get like that after only two days? Hopefully things will get better..."_

Unfortunately, things didn't get better. Over the next few days, they got worse. Within the following week Sam left her house an extra half hour early to meet Paulina at the coffee shop for lattes. Her brother, Nick started to get creeped out. He wasn't goth or anything, but he was used to Sam being the way she used to be. She never minded him poking into her room every now and then, but now she screamed at him when he would barely touch her doorknob. She barely even said 'hi' to Danny and Tuck anymore-in fact, she ignored them completely. She started to act a bit more snobby and girly. As she changed more and more, her parents became prouder, Nick became more confused, and Danny and Tuck more annoyed.

But besides getting annoyed, Danny started to worry. He had been friends with her for years and he found the sudden changes in her troubling. He never had this feeling before. He felt that as the days went by Sam was drifting further and further away from him. He was losing his best friend. He _lost_ his best friend. By the end of the second week, the Sam he'd known his whole life had disappeared. She was now a total stranger.

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The old Sam is gone, but it can't get any worse...or can it? What is going to happen?

**I'm changing the title. Here are the options:**

1. As Our Friendship Fades Away

2. Losing You

3. Down We Fall

Tell me which one is the best in your review and it will be the new title for this story! Peace!


	6. Chapter 6: A Heart Broken

Chapter 6. A Heart Broken

It's now been four weeks. Four weeks since the whole school found out the Mansons were rich. Four weeks since Sam joined the popular crowd and became best friends with Paulina. Four weeks since Danny's life had turned upside down. He was currently sitting on his bed flipping through his photo album, taking in all of the past memories.

He closed the book and found himself thinking about what happened with Sam.

He never thought that it would end up this way. He never expected Sam to get like that. Who would? He shoved the album off of his bed and stood up. He couldn't take it anymore. His mind was made up-tomorrow he was going to talk to her. He had to get his best friend back...

The next morning he burst into the school not knowing how things would go. He went to the cafeteria to find Sam and her friends talking and laughing. They stopped laughing when they saw him. He took a deep breath and started to walk over to her.

"Sam, I have to talk to you."

Sam took one look at him and said a mere, ''I don't _think _so."

"What do you mean you don't think so?"

"I meant what I said, now get out of here Fenton!"

Just then, the bell rang. Danny glanced at the clock, then back to Sam and snapped ''We'll talk later."

"Yeah, whatever." She turned to Paulina and whispered, ''_Like that will ever happen."_ Paulina giggled. Danny glared at her and walked off to class as Sam and Paulina slapped each other a high-five.

After that, whenever Danny tried to talk to Sam, she avoided him. Tucker noticed and started to get concerned. Eventually Paulina started to think that Sam was getting a bit nasty. Paulina was always pretty heartless, but she too began to feel a very tiny bit of sympathy for Danny and Tucker. After what seemed like an eternity, the last bell rang and Danny decided to try to talk to Sam one more time, with Tucker behind him. He found Sam and her friends in the main hallway chatting. Just like before, they stopped when they saw Danny and Tucker approach them. Sam whispered, "Hold on, this shouldn't take too long."

"What do you want Danny?"

"Sam, I want this to stop. It's been almost a month since all of this started and it's gone on long enough. I want you to stop acting this way so our lives can go back to normal."

There was a breif moment of silence that was soon broken by Sam laughing. Dash and Quan started to laugh as well and pretty soon the whole group was laughing at Danny. Paulina only giggled.

"You're kidding me, right?"

Danny felt the anger inside of him take hold as his eyes flashed green. Tuck noticed and nudged Danny in the shoulder to get his attention. As Danny's eyes went back to normal Tucker decided to try to reason with Sam.

"No, we're not kidding! We really think that you've gone too far with this. We want you to drop the Miss Popularity act and go back to the way you were."

Sam crossed her arms.

"The way I was? You guys really think that I'll go back to the way I was? I don't think so."

"Why not?" Danny snapped.

"I was a loser. I stuck out like a sore thumb and didn't have any friends! At least now I have _real_ friends who are cool."

"What about us?" Tuck asked.

"Oh please! You two? You guys were an embarassment. Like you, Tucker and your technology. No girl would ever date a guy who was that crazy about computers and polished his PDA every night."

"Hey! You promised to keep that a secret!"

"Yeah, well at least _I_ was able to change my image and had what took to become someone who _matters._

Tuck clenched his jaw in anger.

Sam turned to Danny.

''And you Danny-you're just a loser. You only had two friends your whole life-a computer geek and a goth freak that used to be me. That's pathetic. Besides, you're hopeless-chasing after Paulina when you know she's far from interested. Oh, and don't get me started on you constantly trying to be cool. It would never happen. You don't play sports and you were never able to do anything good enough to create a good image. Face it, there's nothing unique about you. You're nothing and that's never going to change."

As she said that, Danny's eyes got wide with shock and it felt like someone ripped his heart out. He tried to deny it by saying _'That's not true...', _but the tightness in his throat prevented him from saying anything.Sam turned to Dash and they all started laughing. Tuck turned to Danny and said, ''Come on, man. We don't have to be here. Let's go." Danny looked at Tucker and back at Sam who stood there smirking. Danny sighed and turned to Tuck and managed to mutter sadly, "Alright." Before leaving Danny took one last look at Sam and her friends as they stood there smirking.

However, Paulina's smirk quickly turned into a concerned frown as she watched Danny sulk away with unshed tears in his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7: Danny's Breakdown

This chapter will have a bit of stuff between Danny and his mom, so you know! Also, thank you all soooooo much for reviewing! Love to all! And cookies!

Chapter 7. Danny's Breakdown

Danny stared at his dinner in silence and played with his peas as Sam's cold words continued to ring in his ears. Sam's brother, aka Jazz's boyfriend Nick was over for dinner that night. He was slightly taller than Jazz and like Sam, he had black hair that he kept under a red baseball cap. He had a silver earring in his left ear, a balck t-shirt, and black converse sneakers. He had a small beard(very small, triangle shaped, goatee type thing).Nick went on talking about his multimedia class and his filming project and, much to Danny's dismay, he brought up the changes in Sam.

"You know, Sam's been acting very strange lately. I mean, one day she 's goth and then over the past few weeks she's become one of those preppy girls who won't stay off the phone. Her cell phone bill is through the roof! And she's completely different."

Jazz looked over to him and said, "Come on Nick, she can't be _that _different, can she?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know"

Nick bent down and got his video camera out. As he turned it on and said, ''Behold, the Fenton family table!" each Fenton (except Danny) started complaining. Maddie and Jack both said, ''Nick, turn it off!" Nick lowered it and replied, ''Come on guys! What's the big deal? I have to expand as an _artist(_says it with a very bad french accent).Besides, I'm gonna need as much footage of a normal family dinner as I can get."

"What about your house? " Jazz asked.

Nick shook his head. "No. I want this stuff to be as normal as possible and Sam's been acting _completely_ different than usual and-"

''Alright, we get it!" Nick stopped talking and everyone turned to Danny, who's sudden outburst surprised everyone. After loosening up, he muttered, ''Sorry about that." Jazz turned to Nick and gestured for him to either turn off the camera or put it away.

She then turned to Danny and asked, ''Danny, what's wrong?" Danny sighed, ''Nothing. I'm fine."

Sensing something was up with Danny, Jazz asked, ''Are you sure you're ok? It's not like you to blow up like that and you barely touched your dinner." Tensing up, Danny snapped, "Jazz I said I'm fine, now leave me alone!" Shaking her head, Jazz muttered, ''Fine, I won't say anything. Continue, Nick."

He swallowed and said, ''Right. Anyway, I'd rather film over here. I got enough at my house. Besides, it's starting to get old over there. Nothing exciting happens anymore. I need something new. And Sam is starting to creep me out. I see her every day in the halls with those other popular kids and it looks like she's their leader!"

As Nick went on about Sam again, Danny suddenly snapped, ''Is she the only person everyone talks about anymore!"

Jazz asked, ''What do you mean?"

"Ever since this stupid filming project everything's gone insane! People know that she's rich, she's hanging out with the popular kids and she's walking around the school like she's in charge of everyone she comes into contact with!"

Everyone sat in silence and then Nick whipped out his video camera and screeched, "_GOLD!"_ Jack, Maddie and Jazz shouted, "NICK!"

Nick whined, ''Aww, man! Can't have any fun around here."

They all glared at him for a few seconds and Maddie turned to Danny. Even though she was a ghost hunter, she was still a mother and hated to see her son upset. She asked softly, ''Sweetie, what's wrong?" Even though he was still angry, he answered calmly but sternly, ''Mom, I really don't want to talk about it. Thanks for dinner." He ran to his room and slammed the door behind him. Jazz started to get up to go talk to him, but Maddie put up her hand and said, ''Jazz, I'll talk to him. You stay down here." As Jazz sat down and Maddie left the room, Nick blurted out, ''Oh, I have to uh, use the bathroom. Be back in a second!" As he zoomed out of the kitchen, Jazz turned to her dad and said, "He wants to get a career as either a director or a news reporter."

"How do you know?"

''Why else woud he be this camera happy?"

"Good point."

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Upstairs, Danny was still in a bad mood. He sat up and went over to a picture of Sam. He picked it up gently and stared at it, not realizing his mom opened his door and was standing in the doorway. He felt a rush of rage go through him and shoved the picture into his drawer, then rearranged everything else.

"Danny?" Without turning around, he muttered, "What?" Maddie let out a sigh and stepped in, then closed the door a little, not knowing that Nick was behind her and had the camera on. '_Let's see what happens here,' _he thought.

Maddie asked once again, "Honey, what's going on with you? You barely ate any of your dinner, you blew up at the table, and blow up everytime someone mentions Sam."

Danny suddenly stopped fiddling with everything on his dresser. He growled in anger and felt his eyes glowing green, but shook his head and snapped out of it. He let out a sigh and turned around and went to sit on his bed. "Mom, I really don't want to talk about it right now." Maddie sat down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Danny, you know how much your father and I love you. We can't stand seeing you like this. You've been acting so different lately-so gloomy and angry-that you're starting to scare us. We're worried about you. _I'm _worried about you. Please, tell me what's bothering you-I want to help."

She was about to leave when Danny blurted out, "Sam's completely lost it! She turned on me!"

Maddie went over to Danny's bed and sat down again.

"Honey, what are you talking about?"

"In school today I tried to talk to her, but she insulted me and Tucker. She called him 'techno-geek'."

"Really?"

"Actually she implied it, but that's what he looks like to her now."

"What about you? Did she say anything to you?"

Danny got up and started pacing the floor and got more upset as he went on talking.

''Well, she called me hopeless for constantly trying to get the attention of Paulina when I know she's not interested, but it's nothing. The only thing that gets to me though, is that the three of us have been friends since we began preschool and she seems to have forgotten all of the years of our friendship! And I let her get like that! I told her to go through with it and this happens! Ok, that's it, I said it! Got anything to say?"

By the time he was done he had tears streaming down his cheeks, but forced himself to stop when he remembered he was in front of his mom-and that was pretty embarassing. He wiped his eyes and muttered, "Sorry."

"Danny, I don't want to interfere too much, but just give her time. She'll come to her senses sooner or later and when you're ready you can talk to her again. As for what she said to you two, you just have to remember that what she said isn't true. They're not facts, they're opinions and in this case, opinions don't matter."

She got up to leave again. Nick shut off his camera and ran to the bathroom to hide. As she went to open the door she turned around again and said to Danny, "By the way, you don't have to be embarassed about anything. I won't mention any of this to anyone."

Danny looked at her and smiled slightly, then said, ''Thanks mom." As Maddie closed the door, Danny went back to his bed and cried silently into his pillow until he fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8: A New Friend

A/N: For the rest of this story Paulina is going to be VERY OOC-when I say that, I mean that she's going to be nice. So you know, I won't accept any criticism or rude remarks about that. This is how it is and I'm not changing anything.

Chapter 8. A New Friend

Danny felt just as bad the next morning. Even though talking to his mom helped his anger a bit, he was still deeply hurt. He didn't even feel like going to school that day, but he knew he had to. He walked outside to see Tucker sitting on the steps staring at the ground.

Tuck turned around and said, "Hey Danny. You ok?"

Danny shook his head.

Tuck looked at his watch and said, ''Me neither. Let's go."

They walked to school in silence, thoughts racing through their heads. When they got to school they went to their lockers and went to their morning classes while trying to avoid Sam. They didn't know that someone was watching them.

When lunch rolled around they still haven't said much. They didn't even feel like eating anything. Tucker was always food crazy but he didn't even buy a bag of chips. Danny didn't feel like asking why. He knew why-Sam's insult hurt Tucker deep even though she only made fun of his obsession with technology. They sat there sulking when that 'someone' approached them.

"Danny? Tucker?"

It was Paulina.

"I was wondering, are you guys ok?"

Still looking down, Danny muttered, ''Paulina, not now. We don't feel like talking to anyone-especially one of you popular kids. Just leave us alone."

Paulina was about to answer when Dash called out, ''Hey Paulina, ditch those twinkies and come back over here!"

She stared at Dash but turned back to Danny and Tucker who just started to feel worse. Surprisingly, she shouted back, ''Not now Baxter!" Dash scratched his head in confusion, them answered, ''Uh...ok."

She turned back to Danny and Tucker. Tucker looked up and asked, "Why are you over here? To make us feel worse?"

"No. I wanted to see if you guys were ok. That's all."

Tuck perked up a tiny bit. "Really?"

"Yes." She said sincerely. "And I just wanted you to know that-I'm sorry things got like that. Sam went overboard. Even I wanted to tell her to stop while she was ahead."

"You could have."

Paulina and Tuck looked over at Danny who finally looked up.

"You could have stopped her."

"I know, and I feel terrible."

Tuck smiled a bit and said, "It's ok. We'll get over it-eventually. Right Danny?"

Danny muttered, "Whatever."

"Or not." Frowning again, he turned back to Paulina and said, "You know, you don't have to stay here. You can go back to them. We'll be fine."

Paulina looked at Tuck and back at her friends. Then she looked at Danny again. She never saw him like that before. She never thought she would feel this way, but she felt really sorry for them-especially Danny. She looked back and Tuck and answered, "No, it's ok. I want to stay here with you guys."

They sat there talking for a while (Danny was still depresssed, so he spoke very little) and eventually Tucker started to trust her slowly. Danny was still uncertain of her motives and didn't warm up to her.

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The next morning went on like the day before, although Paulina would give a reassuring smile if they looked her way. At lunch she sat with them again. Finally the bell rang and Danny and Tuck walked outside to see Paulina standing outside leaning on the wall near the steps. Was she waiting for them?

Tuck asked, "Paulina, what are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be with Sam? You haven't been with her that much today."

"Well, I didn't feel like hanging out with Sam today."

Danny asked, "Why not? Did she turn her back on you too?"

"No, nothing happened. I just want to be around you two."

"You feel sorry for us, don't you?"

"Well yeah, I-"

"You also think we're pathetic. You want to hang around with us until we tell you exactly what's on our minds and exactly how we feel. Then you're going to tell Sam and the whole school and make us look like a couple of complete losers. Paulina, Sam hung out with _you _the first week! _You _showed her where to hang out. _You _changed her entire look. And _you _told her that all she needed to do was slip the teacher a few 5's to get away with being late to class!"

Tuck asked, "Wow! You can do that?"

Danny snapped, ''Tuck, not now!" He turned back to Paulina.

"Listen Paulina, I'm not pointing fingers or trying to make you feel bad. All I'm saying is that Sam was with you the entire time she changed. How do I know we can trust you? For all we know you want to embarass us and make us feel worse than we already do."

"No I don't! I'm aware that I'm the one who helped change her, but stabbing you in the back was not my idea! Even now, I don't want to turn on you, I don't to deepen your depression, and I don't want to give you any more grief!"

"What do you want then!"

Without warning, Paulina grabbed Danny's shoulders and shook him slightly. "I WANT TO HELP YOU!"

Danny's eyes got wide and he stammered, ''Wh-what did you say?"

Paulina sighed and answered as best she could.

"Danny, I told you that I thought she took things too far. And I just said that I didn't expect any of this to happen. Now I know you probably don't trust me yet-I know you might never trust me, but all I'm saying is that I want to be there for you." She took her hands off of Danny's shoulders and looked at Tucker. "For both of you. You guys could use someone to help you feel better. Even a tiny bit. I want to be that someone. I want to be here for you. Besides, acting heartless can really get to you after a while."

That bit made Tucker smile. It wasn't a half-hearted smile, but a full happy grin. Danny looked down, up at Tuck, then back at Paulina to see if she was messing with him. He quickly scanned her eyes for any signs of being deceitful or if she was up to something, but found nothing. Realizing that she was serious and thinking it over he sighed and said, ''Alright. Sorry for being stubborn."

Paulina smiled and answered, ''It's ok. I know it's not easy warming up to someone after a close friend turns on you. And it's natural for there to be a problem or two. I understand, so I'm not offended."

Tuck stepped forward and said, ''Good! So, we're going to meet after school and things like that I guess?"

"Whatever you guys want. I'm open for suggestions."

Danny thought for a moment and said, ''I think we should keep this a secret. This way no one finds out that you're hanging out with us. We don't want anything else to happen."

"Right."

Tuck clapped his hands and said, ''Okaaay, so let's all promise to keep this secret little alliance a secret."

Paulina put her hand out in the middle and said, ''I promise-and I'm in." Tuck put his hand on top of hers and said, ''Me too! Danny?" Danny sighed and put his hand on Tucker's. "I'm in."

And after that, Danny, Tucker and Paulina started to hang out at least every day. Paulina started ditching Sam every now and then to be with Danny and Tucker to go to the movies, or just to hang out even though she tried not to fully replace the old Sam from the group. Eventually in a few days Tuck felt much better and seemed to be himself again-he was back to being funny and even played with his PDA again after Paulina's encouragement even though he was still very angry at Sam. And although helping Tuck was easy, she still couldn't heal Danny's still broken heart. Poor Danny was still depressed and whenever Paulina or Tucker asked him if he was ok or what was on his mind he would never say anything. Still, he wasn't as angry and he didn't blow up at dinner anymore, so Paulina _was _helping him-kind of.

There was very little progress in his emotional healing, but there was progress.

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It seems like Danny is starting to feel a bit better. Will his depression end? Or will someone's lack of common sense pull him further from emotional recovery? Find out in chapter nine of Down We fall! R&R and like I said, no criticism for the changes in Paulina!


	9. Chapter 9: Engulfed In Rage

To eveyone who reviewed, I have to say you all rock! Thanks sooo much for the great(and funny) reviews! It really helps make me happy and...stuff. Anyway, here's chapter 9.

Chapter 9: Engulfed In Rage

Danny was walking home through the park. Paulina was at Tucker's house hanging out, but it didn't matter to Danny. He felt like being alone. Even though it was going to rain, he figured that the fresh air would help him clear his mind about what has happened so far. '_If only I knew she would get like that. I would have been able to stop her...' _He had the Fenton Thermos with his just in case he would run into a ghost, but he didn't think he would need it. He sighed and kept walking until his ghost sense went off. "Oh, no!" Danny groaned. He ran ahead and saw a huge ghost that looked like a lion that scared everyone else out. He looked at it and said, "You know, I'm not much of a cat person." Then two familiar blue rings formed around Danny's waist, and he transformed into Danny Phantom. He took off and punched the ghost as hard as he could. It roared in anger and breathed fire at him. Danny dodged it and fired several ecto-plasmic energy-blasts at it, but the ghost dodged all of them.

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Meanwhile at Tucker's house, Tuck tried to call Danny to let him know that he heard a ghost was in the park area.

"Come on Danny, pick up!" Tucker kept calling Danny's cell phone, but once again got his voicemail. "Darn it, Danny!"

"Maybe he's too busy doing something to answer the phone." Paulina said.

"Not likely. He always answers his phone."

"Unless something unexpected came up."

Tuck was about to call Danny again when he realized, '_What if he's fighting a ghost and needs help_?' "Oh man!"

Tuck suddenly pannicked and headed towards his door.

Paulina, confused asked, "Tuck, what's going on? What's wrong?"

"I think something's up with Danny."

"What do you mean?"

"It might be ghost related. Let's go."

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Danny was starting to get tired, and fired another blast, but the giant ghost caught it with it's flaming tail and shot it back at Danny. It hit him hard and he flew back screaming until he landed in a tree. He felt a jab of pain in his left knee, but ignored it and went intangible, phased through the tree and under the ground and came up right behind it. He was about to blast again, but the ghost whipped around and swiped at Danny. He was knocked down and landed flat on his back. He cringed in pain and was about to get up, but the ghost pinned his top the ground with one of his huge paws. Danny tried to go intangible, but it wouldn't work, and he tried to lift up the paw, but it was too heavy. He tried to reach the thermos, but the ghost kicked it away. Danny then saw Sam walking by, talking on her cellphone. He was still very upset with her, but he _really_ needed help. He screamed, "Sam, help! I need the thermos!" She glanced over her shoulder, but then ignored him and kept going. "Sam!" He suddenly screamed in pain as the ghost emmitted electricity from it's paws through Danny's body. He tensed up and pushed up as hard as he could. He ended up knocking the ghost down and fired another blast as hard as he could, which hit it and seemed to have knocked it out. Breathing heavy, Danny scanned the ground and went to the thermos.

Tuck and Paulina were almost at the park, but they saw the ghost and and Danny, and Paulina automatically knew who the ghost boy was.

"Danny Phantom. What's he doing there?"

Tucker replied, "Fighting _that._ (He pointed at the ghost lion)Let's go!"

They saw that the ghost was starting to get up and was about to smack Danny with it's tail one last time.

Tucker screamed, "DANNY, LOOK OUT!"

Danny turned around to see where the warning came from, but he ended up being whipped across the sky as the ghost fought back one last time before giving up. Skidding along the ground and getting bruised up, Danny lost consciousness and returned to his human-form. Watching that happened, Paulina froze in place.

''Is-is that Danny? _Our_ Danny? _He's the ghost boy?" _Tucker answered, "Please, don't tell ANYONE, but...yes, he is." Paulina ran to Danny, who was lying on his left side, bent down next to him, rolled hom over so he was facing up, and started to shake him gently.

"Danny? Danny, wake up! Come on! Danny!" He moved slightly and let out a groan. Paulina squeaked, "Danny! You're alive! Thank goodness!"

Tuck ran over and asked, "Are you ok, man?"

Danny's eyes slid open he replied, "I don't know..."

Tuck asked, ''Well, can you sit up?"

"I think so."

He slowly started to get up when he felt a jab of pain in his left wrist. He let out a yelp and fell back down. Tuck put down the thermos and helped him sit up again. Paulina took a bandanna from her pants pocket and wrapped Danny's wrist. When she tied it in place Danny said, "Thanks, Paulina."

''No problem."

Danny suddenly got struck with shock when he realized that she saw him change from his ghost form to human form when he passed out.

He gasped and shrieked, "Paulina, you saw me as a ghost, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Paulina, please don't tell anyone! PLEASE!"

"Danny, it's ok! I won't tell anyone, I promise!"

Danny still looked uncertain, so Paulina cracked, "Danny, if I tell anyone, then just overshadow me and make me look like an idiot."

Danny went to stand up, but he felt another jab of pain in his knee.

"Ow! Dang-it!"

As is started to rain, Tuck walked over to Danny, helped him up and put Danny's arm around his shoulders.

''Lean on me and try not to use your leg too much."

"Ok. Thanks Tuck."

After getting the thermos, Paulina asked, "Danny, why don't you just fly home?" Danny and Tuck looked at each other. Danny closed his eyes and sighed sadly. Tucker turned to Paulina and replied, "I don't think he's in any condition to fly right now. Let's go, we're not too far from his house." Paulina got on Danny's other side and put his other arm around her shoulder and helped him walk too.

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By the time they got to Danny's house his knee didn't hurt as much and he was able to walk, but he limped. And he was still weak and shaken from what happened. He'd been in worse shape before, but his broken heart got pulverised even more, and that took it's toll on him. After getting help going up the front steps, he continued to lean on Paulina as Tuck rang the doorbell. As Jazz answered the door, she started to say, "Well it's about time you came-Danny, what happened to you!"

She shrieked when she saw him with his wrist wrapped up and bruises on him. She turned around and yelled, "Mom! Dad! Get out here!"

Maddie came running and asked, ''What is it, sweetie? What's wrong?" She gasped. ''Danny! What happened? Are you ok?"

Jack came running and asked, "What's going on? Where's the ghost! Suffering spooks! Danny, what happened to you?"

Jazz helped Danny come in and led him to the couch. After Danny sat down, Jazz turned to Maddie and said, ''I'll get the first aid kit." Jack turned to Danny, Tucker, and Paulina and asked, "So what happened? Was there a ghost involved?"

Poking her head out from the bathroom Jazz screamed, "Dad! It wasn't a ghost!" Danny sighed and replied, "Actually, it was a ghost." The other three Fenton's jaws dropped.

More worried than before, Jazz came running in with the kit, unwrapped the bandanna and re-wrapped Danny's wrist with an ace bandage. Jack jumped into the air and exclaimed, ''Yes! I was right for once!" Maddie glared at him, put her hand on Danny's shoulder lovingly and asked, "Honey, what happened to you?"

Not wanting to blow his secret, Danny lied and said, ''I was walking in the park and I saw a ghost. I had the thermos with me, but I was too far away from it. I tried to sneak upon it to suck it in, but it heard me. I tried to run away, but I tripped and the thermos flew out of my hand. I got up and tried to go back for the thermos, but it whacked my with it's tail and I went flying. I guess I passed out and the next thing I knew Paulina was shaking me."

When he was done, Jazz squeazed him and said, ''Thank goodness you're alright!" Maddie asked, ''Did the ghost get away?" Tucker frowned and said, ''Yeah, but he gave up." Danny got up and after putting a brace on his knee, he said, ''I'm going upstairs." Tuck asked, ''Do you want help?" Danny turned his head back to everyone and muttered sadly, ''No. I'm fine."

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When Danny got to his room he stepped inside, closed the door, and went over to his bed and sat down. He closed his eyes and sighed. How could Sam just ignore him like that? She saw that he was being pinned down by a ghost 10 times his size, yet she just kept walking. His eyes started to tear up when he heard someone knock at his door.

"Danny," Paulina asked. ''Danny, can we come in?"

While wiping the tears from his eyes, Danny replied, ''I don't care."

Paulina and Tuck opened the door and sat down next to Danny on his bed. They sat there in silence for a few seconds when Danny sighed.

"I can't believe she did that," he started.

Confused, Tucker asked, "Who? Who did what?"

Danny closed his eyes and muttered, "Sam. I was pinned down by the ghost. I tried to reach the thermos, but it was too far for me to reach. I saw Sam walk by talking on her cell phone and I yelled to her, but she ignored me and kept going."

Tucker and Paulina were speechless. None of them could believe how low Sam had sank in just a few days. Danny went over to his window and opened it. He breathed in the damp air and hung his head low. With his hair falling over his eyes, he mentioned one last thing.

"She acted like we were never friends. Like our whole past was worthless. Like _I'm _worthless."

Tucker got up and came over to Danny and said, "Come on, dude. Don't think like that. It's her problem."

Danny turned to Tuck and answered, "I know, but...it still hurts. We were so close, and now we're drifting so far apart, it's killing me. Guys, so you know, what I just said-that's what I've been hiding from you this whole time. Now you know." When he was finally done, they all felt worse. After a few seconds, Paulina spoke up.

"You know, I can get you two back together. All three of you. You can all be friends agai-"

"No."

Paulina got cut off by Danny uttering that little word. ''What?"

Danny stared at them and continued. "It's too late for that now."

"But Danny, I-"

"Paulina, look at what happened! Look at me! Look at her! Do you guys really think that I can forgive her _that _easily and go on to pretend it never happened? She betrayed me and didn't help me when I needed her! I was already injured, but if she helped me, I wouldn't be in this condition! She ignored me and I could have been killed!"

Tuck tried to reason with him. "Danny, I think you're overreacting...you've been in worse situations before, and you could've just ended up breaking your arm or something."

Danny's anger got ahold of him and his eyes flashed green and a ball of energy formed at his hand.

"So what! She knows better than that!"

Scared, Paulina crawled behind Tucker. The ball faded and Danny's eyes returned to normal as he calmed down.

Sighing, he muttered, "Sorry if I scared you, Paulina. Do you still think Danny Phantom is so great?" Paulina crawled off of Danny's bed and hugged him.

"You bet-you both are. I still can't believe that _you're _the ghost boy. I knew you looked familiar as a ghost, but I didn't know from where. Although it does explain why you would run off all the time."

"Yeah, I get that all the time. Anyway, I'm kinda tired. I'm gonna get ready for bed."

Tuck got up and walked to the door. "Ok. See you tomorrow."

Paulina asked, "Before I go, are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need some sleep."

"Ok. Goodnight Danny."

''Goodnight."

"Danny, just so you know-if you weren't hurt, I'd probably be all over you right now."

"I don't think you would. Now that you've matured a bit and have gotten to know me, saw me almost get killed and discover my secret, I think that you're idea about my ghost half has changed as well, right?"

Paulina thought for a moment and smiled.

''Yeah, I guess you're kinda right, but I'm never going to take down those pictures in my locker. You're still my hero. And I guess now I'm yours too."

Although he was still furious beyond return with Sam, he forced a grin. Paulina smiled and said one last time goodnight before leaving.

Danny turned around to undress(OOOO!) when Paulina poked her head in and said, ''Just in case what I said sounds really corny, don't think too much of it, ok?"

"Alright Paulina. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight."


	10. Chapter 10: A Piece of His Mind

**i-LuV-cHaRmEd18- Jessi, I know im obsessed, but who cares!**

**Maidenhair- did u hav a nice explosion? well, put yourself together and explode again! **

**genbo-here ya go!**

**gh0stg1rl-Thank you sooo much for the review! ur nice!**

**Twilight Princess-didn't like the song too much(i listen to softer things) but thanks for the really long review! it was random and made me laugh!**

**Disoriented Ballerina-wow-thats what I was planning on doing...are you phsychic? yea...thanx 4 da review!**

**Simba Seven-im going! here it is!**

**dArkliTe-sPirit- that was funny! ur funny! **

I'm glad you all liked chapter nine! No more pain for him for a while, ok? I feel bad for Danny to, you know! Anyway, any song lyrics found in this chapter will be in bold and are from the song 'Skin' by Alexz Johnson from the 'the-n' show 'Instant Satr' and is (probably) from the show's soundtrack. Watch this show if you get noggin! Also, I changed a few lines from the song to suit this story. PLEASE read the lyrics! Enjoy!

Chapter 10. A Piece of His Mind

**I drift away to a place  
Another kind of life**

Paulina sat at the 'popular' lunch table in deep thought and Danny sat alone with Tucker at their table. Danny was in his own world ignoring the occasional pangs of pain in his wrist and his knee didn't hurt anymore, but his mom said he should wear the brace for another two days or so. Anyway, Paulina wasn't paying attention to what Sam was saying.

**Take away the pain  
I create my paradise**

"Paulina? Paulina, are you listening?"

''What? Oh-no. Sorry. Listen Sam, can I talk to you for a minute? In private?"

"OK, fine."

They got up and Paulina led Sam to a corner of the cafeteria that was farthest from everyone else.(When I say that, I mean EVERYONE) Paulina sighed and started to bring up a certain topic that's been on her mind the whole time.

"Sam. I have to talk to you about someone."

"Well, who?"

''Danny."

Sam started to leave but Paulina grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her back.

"Sam, get back here! I'm serious-you've taken all of this way too far! Do you know how bad you hurt Danny and Tucker? It took days for me to get Tucker back to normal. And it took me even longer to help Danny-and he's _still _depressed!"

**Everything I've held  
Has hit the wall  
**"So what?"

"Sam, listen to me-you took it too far. Especially when it comes to someone like Danny. And in case you haven't noticed, he's constantly trying to avoid you!"

''Sorry-haven't noticed."

"That's what I thought. You also haven't noticed that he's been depressed and angry ever since that day you insulted them. And that you didn't help him when he needed you!"

''Paulina, I really don't care about their problems, ok? But I _did _notice that you've been ditching us lately to be with those losers.''

"THOSE LOSERS USED TO BE YOUR BEST FRIENDS!"

Sam yawned in boredom. "Can I get back to my life now?"

Paulina sighed. ''Fine, but keep in mind that he is in a very critical state right now."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

As the last bell rang Danny stomped through the halls to finally give Sam a peice of his mind.

With Tucker and Paulina behind him for support(and to help carry his stuff), he made his way to Sam and her friends with nothing holding him back. Noticing that Dash and her other friends stopped talking, she turned around and faced Danny for the first time in weeks. "What the heck happened to y-"

Danny shot his hand up.

**What used to be yours  
Isn't yours at all  
**''Sam, just stop right there. It's none of your business to know what's up with me anymore."

**Falling apart, and all that I'm asking:**  
"What does that mean? And what happened to you Fenton? Did Dash beat you up?"

Sam turned to Dash who backed away saying, "What are you looking at me for? I didn't touch him! You made us promise to leave them alone, remember?"

**Is it a crime? **

"You want to know what happened to me? A ghost attack. Remember the ghost attack in the park? I tried to fight it and you didn't help me when I was in trouble? This (_pointed to his wrist and knee_)is because of you!"

** Am I overreacting?**

''What? Are you serious?"

**Oh, she's under my skin  
Just give me something to get rid of this  
**''Yes Sam! I assure you I'm _very _serious! And this is the worst thing you've ever done to me! Insulting me and Tuck was bad enough, but you just couldn't stop there could you? You had to take it one step further, didn't you!"

**I've got a reason now to bury her alive**

Sam started to feel uneasy for the first time in a while. "No, no I didn't. I was distracted and didn't know it was you-"

** Another little white lie**

"Yeah, you were too busy talking on your stupid phone to help me!" Danny yelled.

**What you had didn't fit  
Among the pretty things**

"Danny, I-"

"No, it doesn't matter anymore. That was yesterday!"

**But never fear, never fear**

** I now know where you've been**

Sam was about to ask what he meant, but couldn't. She simply stared at him.

** Falling apart and all that I question:**

** Is this a dream, or is this my lesson?  
**

"It's clear to me and the rest of the world that you don't care about your other friends anymore. Our past doesn't matter, it never did, and now you just care about the present."

** I don't believe I'll be alright  
I don't believe I'll be OK  
I don't believe how you've thrown me away**

Danny took an angry step towards Sam, trying hard to control his powers. His eyes were cold and full of rage. Dash and Quan were actually afraid of him in that moment. They backed up a few steps.

Danny yelled, "Go ahead and be popular! Hang out with your new friends, start failing school, blow off money on stupid things that you don't need! Go out and buy the Taj Mahal for all I care!"

** I do believe you didn't try  
I do blame you for every lie**

"Danny, I-"

"JUST STAY OUT OF MY WAY! YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH!"

As he said that he grabbed his backpack from the ground and flashed one last angry look at Sam before leaving as fast as he could. Tuck glanced at Sam and left. Paulina started to leave but said, "I told you." As she left, Dash and everyone else left too, leaving Sam.

**When I look in your eyes...**

She stood there silently and his cold stare struck her in her mind even harder.

** ...I don't see mine...**

**  
**


	11. Chapter 11: Truth Revealed

100,000,000,000 apologies for not updating in 3 months. It's been busy here...I was Sam for Haloween! I colored my blonde hair black and-well, yeah-I was Sam. I worked on the costume for a really long time, which is also why I haven't updated. Anyway, here's the really late chapter 11.

If this chapter is stupid and you don't like it, or if it's something that was very predictable, or just plain dumb, I apologize and will try to come up with a different one. I couldn't think of anything else either, so if this chapter is really sucky, I apologize intensely. Please don't criticize me too bad.

Chapter 11. Truth Revealed

_**"JUST STAY OUT OF MY WAY! YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH!"**_

What Danny yelled almost an hour ago still played over and over in Sam's head. She was currently in her room sitting on her bed thinking about what he said, and how angry he looked. She started to feel a bit guilty, but just shrugged it off. "It's not _that _bad. It's not like I ripped his heart out and beat it to a pulp or anything."

She got up and left to get a drink when she heard something coming out of Nick's room. It was Nick talking to Jazz, who was over for a while.

(Jazz talking)"Are you kidding me?"

''What?" ''You videotaped Danny talking to my mom about his issue with Sam?"

Sam stood outside the door and looked in to see what was going on.

"Well...uh..yeah-I did." "Give it to me." ''Why?" ''I don't want your class to see my brother breaking down in front of our mom, that's why!"

'_Breaking down?' _Sam thought.

''I know...but I have really good footage on here-can't I just edit it onto another tape?" ''Uh...sure, I guess." "Ok, but we have to play it for that to happen." Jazz sighed and muttered, "Wow, I came over to hang out and instead I'm watching my little brother have an episode."

As soon as Nick set everything up, the footage he shot of Danny started playing. Sam stared in shock as she saw Danny break down. In that moment, her world skidded to a sudden stop as she trodded back to her room, feeling _much _worse than before.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on, Sam! Snap out of it!"

Sam lie on her bed with her pillow over her face, not wanting to talk. Paulina was sitting in Sam's computer chair and tried to get her to pull together. She jolted up and tossed the pillow off of Sam.

"Why? Why did I get like that? Why did I let something this stupid control me?"

"Sam..."

"How could I hurt him like that?"

''Sam!"

"I pulverised his fragile little boyish heart to a pulp! How do expect me to calm down!"

"Sam, just stop for a minute! You can admit that you made a little mistake."

Sam looked up hopefully.

Paulina continued. "Actually, you made a huge mistake..."

"Gee, thanks." Sam grumbled.

"Still, maybe you can fix everything."

"How?"

"Well, I think you should start small. First you should ease back into what you used to wear. Then talk to Tuck, then wait a while, then when you feel it's right you can go talk to Danny. Unless you don't want to. I think you should try it.

Sam thought for a few seconds. She suddenly remembered what had been long forgotten-her past. She remembered first meeting Danny and Tucker, how Danny got his powers...everything. They didn't seem stupid anymore.

"You're right-maybe I _can_ fix everything."

"Exactly my point. And if you have any problems with anything, you know you can always come to me. Or Jazz."

Sam grinned. "Thanks Paulina. You know, all of a sudden, I don't feel comfortable in these clothes." Paulina shot Sam a questioning glance, but it turned into a huge grin when Sam smiled and went over to a section of her closet that had a certain outfit in it...

-------------------

Tuck sat on his stoop playing with his PDA and didn't notice that he was being approached.

''Um... Tuck?"

He looked up and saw Sam wearing her original outfit. His jaw dropped.

"S-Sam? what the heck?"

"Tuck, listen, I'm really really sorry-for everything. I never should've let the popularity to get to my head. It was stupid of me to turn on you and Danny, and I could kick myself for calling you 'techno-geek'. You're not. You're a really good friend and I had no right to criticize you."

Tuck looked down, then back at Sam. He smiled slightly and replied, ''Thanks, Sam. And it's ok-I forgive you. Come'ere!" Tucker wrapped his arms around Sam in a friendly 'I don't hate you' hug. Sam hugged him back and Tuck said, "I'm glad you finally came to your senses."

"Me too."

"Now, Danny...I don't think he'll be as easy to win over."

"I know...I don't know if he'll even le me within 10 feet of him."

"Well, we can try. I'll try to get him to ease up this weekend, then on monday we'll see if he'll listen to you."

"I don't think so. You saw how mad he was."

"Well, let's just see what happens."

-----------------

The next day, Tucker was at Danny's house for a while. Even though Danny was busy making his bed and cleaning his room, Tucker brought up Sam and tried to get Danny to ease up.

"So Danny, I saw that you got your mesage across to Sam yesterday. She looked really guilty."

"That was the point. I couldn't let her get away with what she did to me, so I told her exactly what was on my mind."

"Yup, so let's wait a few days until she comes around and apologizes. Then this little war can stop."

"Huh? What the-Tucker, this isn't going to stop."

"What? I thought that-"

"Tuck, I didn't say that to get her back. I just told you, I said what was on my mind, and that was it. It's too late for anything else."

"That's it? So even if she apologizes, you won't forgive her?"

"Nope."

"If she begs, pleads, and even cries her eyes out, you still won't forgive her?"

"No."

"Why?"

Danny looked up from what he was doing, but looked back down and continued.

"Danny, we both know that somewhere down there is the old Sam who's gonna eventually bubble back up to the surface. You can't stay angry forever."

''Why not?"

Tuck started to say something, but stopped when he realized that for once, he had nothing to say.

"Tuck, I'm not trying to be mean here."

"I don't know about that..."

"Look, unlike Sam, I didn't forget our past. I love thinking about the good old days before all of this, but I'm not going to forgive her."

Tucker sighed. "Ok. I'll see you Monday."

"Bye."

As soon as Tucker left, he muttered, "Darn it!"

------------------------

On Monday Sam decided to try to talk to Danny. She was nervous, but Tuck and Paulina were behind her-in fact, they went to her house on Sunday to talk to her. As they entered, everyone gasped when they saw her in her original, pre-popularity outfit. Her 'friends' were surprised, but accepted Sam's sudden change. She saw Danny and that he wasn't bandaged anymore.

_'Mentioning that should help break the ice.' _she thought.

She started to walk over to him, but the minute he saw her, he stared in a different direction.

She chickened out at the last moment and nudged Tuck to help her out.

"Can you go first?"

"Ok, ok."

Tuck walked over to Danny, who refused to look at Sam.

"Um...hi Danny. Are you feeling better?"

Danny looked at Sam, then Tuck, then Sam again.

"Fine-just leave me alone." he answered, with a hint of annoyance tinted in his voice as he walked around Tuck, eyes not leaving Sam's.

He walked away as quick as he could.

They stared as Danny left and Tucker said, "He knew that Sam was the one who wanted to know, didn't he?"

Sam and Paulina sighed and rolled their eyes.

The rest of the day was no better. Every single time Sam tried to get Danny's attention, he just ignored her. As the end of the day neared, Sam got more urgent and Danny got more annoyed. Sam decided to try at least one more time before Danny left to go home, so she approached him, yet again, at his locker.

"Danny?"

He didn't answer. He slammed his locker shut and started to walk away. Sam grabbed him by the arm.

"Danny, will you just listen to me?"

Danny pulled his arm out of her grasp.

"Why should I? Just because you go back to the way you used to look, you think everything will get better just like that?"

"Danny, please! Just hear me out! I'm sorry! I know it was stupid of me to abandon you."

"Yeah Sam, it _was_ stupid of you to abandon me. Especially since I really needed your help."

"I know, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me, please!"

Danny stared at her. He clearly saw the plead in her eyes, and saw that she was desperate.

He sighed and replied quietly, "I'm sorry. I can't." Then he left.

Sam cried out in frustration and punched a random locker as hard as she could. Paulina put her hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Sam, don't get so worked up."

"Yeah, you can try again." Tuck said.

Sam sighed. "Ok, let's get out of here."

--------------------------------------------------------

"I don't know what to do anymore Tucker." They were in Sam's room. Sam walked away from her window and sat down on her bed. Tuck was sitting in a chair and Paulina was standing near Sam's dresser.

"I've tried everything to get Danny to talk to me, but he still won't give me any time to talk to him."

"Well, I can't really do anything-it's confusing me, too."

"I just don't get it. It's not like he's never gotten insulted before. Then I say something and now he'll never forgive me. Still, he has every right to be angry at me. I abandoned him when he needed me and he could've gotten killed. Even before the ghost fight he was furious, I don't understand why he took it so hard..."

"It's because he loves you."

Sam turned to Paulina.

"What! Paulina, what are you talking about?" she asked.

Paulina smiled and put a photo album down. She walked over to Sam's bed and sat down next to her. "Sam, it's been obvious since middle school. He's in love with you, which is why he took everything so personally."

Tucker shot up. ''Wait a minute. The three of us hang out all the time. Everytime someone mentions them being a couple he always denies it. Besides, I've never seen anything going on between them, or Danny acting strange."

Paulina stared at him and asked, "Do you _really _think he acts normal all the time? Here-look at these." She reached into her backpack and pulled out a stack of pictures.

"Uh, where did you get these?" Tuck asked.

"From me." They turned to the door and saw Nick poking his head in. "I take pictures of you guys in school and around town and I thought these might help. I also have a photo copy of certain pages from his journal. Jazz gave them to me to give you."

Sam stammered, ''Uh, th-thanks."

"No problem. We hope you guys will make up..."

As he shut the door, Sam started going through the pictures. She saw a few that didn't seem out of the ordinary. Then her eyes fell on a picture that was taken last summer at her house. they were all up late watching movies. Nick was spying on them and waiting for them to do something that would make a good picture. Eventually Tucker had to leave, so it was just Danny and Sam. Eventually, Sam fell asleep and Danny put his arm around her. He seemed to be smiling, too. Nick snapped the picture, which Sam was now looking at.

"Ok, now that I don't remember...but it couldn't have meant anything. Uh, why don't we look at the journal pages?"

Tuck perked up and squeaked, "Sweet!" Paulina and Sam flashed him dirty looks and Tuck simmered down. "Sorry" he muttered. Sam took a random page and began to read it outloud:

_February 20_

_Dear Journal,_

_Today was another typical day- Jazz being boring, Dash being a jerk, and the box ghost being an idiot. Same old. The only thing different was that Tuck was out, so it was just me and Sam at lunch. No offense to Tuck, but I was so happy it was just the two of us. She's just so adorable the way she eats her salads all the time. It wasn't awkward or anything, but today was different. Usually when it's just us we act casual, but today I couldn't stop staring at her. It feels very weird being in love with my best friend. I still can't come out to tell her how I feel. I guess I'm too scared to know how she feels about me. I'm not really sure how she feels about me. Whenever someone calls us 'lovebirds' I deny it to keep the secret. I have a feeling she denies it because it's a ridiculous accusation or something. Still, I have to tell her sooner or later before something comes up. Man, it's like one of those 'don't want to ruin the friendship' things. That happens all the time in movies and now that it's happening to me-it doesn't seem that stupid. _

_Why does being a teenager have to be so difficult!_

_-Danny_

As soon as she read that, Tucker burst out laughing. Sam said, ''Um..ok-I think I get it now."

"Here-here's one from a few days ago."

_February 27_

_Dear Journal,_

_This can't be happening. Sam is becoming one of-them. She hasn't said a word to me or Tuck in days. I never thought this would happen-what went wrong? I can't let this go any further. I have to talk to her-tomorrow. I miss her._

_-Danny_

Sam started to put the papers down.

"What are you doing?" Paulina asked.

''I think I know what the next entry is about-I'm kind of afraid to read it."

"Come on Sam. We'll never know until you read it."

Sam gulped and started to read the next page.

_February 28_

_Dear Journal,_

_I tried-I failed. She didn't ignore us. It was worse than that. Much worse. She called Tuck a techno-geek and blabbed his secret. It hurt-I could tell. But what she said to me-that hurt much more..._

As she read what she said to him, she was struck with guilt all over again. Paulina and Tuck were taking it all in as they remembered that this was how Danny got depressed in the first place.

_At that moment it felt like my entire world screeched to a halt. I swear I felt my heart stop when she said that. I felt tears come to my eyes, but I didn't shed any. Any trace of hope I had for our friendship to survive was shattered. I am, too._

As Sam read those last words, her eyes were brimmed with tears. And what struck her harder was the fact that some of those words were blurred from Danny's tears and copied when the page itself was copied. She put down the paper and wiped her eyes.

"Well?" Tuck asked.

"Well what?"

"Are you gonna try again to talk to him, or are you gonna give up?"

"Tuck, I'm done trying. He's never going to talk to me again. I can't force him to."

"Who cares? Keep trying. He'll crack eventually. Just wait a few days and try again."

"Tucker's right Sam. Give him a few days and try again. Leave notes in his locker, give him hopeful glances if he ever looks at you. Don't give up just yet."

Sam sighed. "Ok. but if nothing happens by the end of this month, I'm giving up."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It could've been a lot better, in my own opinion. I REALLY should've given you a REALLY good chapter for making you all wait so long, but I honestly couldn't think of anything different or better to write.

As I said, if you think this chapter sucks and is very stupid, I apologize. A lot. PLEASE don't criticize it or me too badly. And don't lose interest in this story. Please.


	12. Chapter 12: Rematch

Wow-you have no idea how happy I am that you liked chapter 11! You are all so good to me! sniff sniff

Here, cookies and nachos for everyone!

And yeah-that _was_ a complete invasion of privacy.

Anyway, here's chapter 12!

Chapter 12. Rematch

The rest of that night, she thought about her little conversation with Paulina and Tucker. She reflected on the journal entries and the video tape with Danny's breakdown, which she watched over and over again after Nick let her keep it. She decided then and there that it was no use trying to talk to Danny anymore. She was just an annoyance, and she cared way too much for him to even _think _about causing him any more grief. She made her decision-she would say her final good-bye and try to move on. She told Tuck and Paulina right after she made her choice. They thought that it wasn't necessary and that she should keep trying for the rest of the month like she said she would, but they respected her choice.

For the next two days Sam tried to give Danny his space and stayed away from him. On Thursday after school she decided to try to talk to him one last time, but she waited until 5:30 when he would be out of the house. She finally found him at the park. He was sitting on a bench and was staring blankly at the ground. Sam took a deep breath and walked over to him. Danny didn't look up, even for a second.

"Um, hi Danny."

"What do you want, Sam?"

"Danny, please hear me out. I'm not trying to annoy you. That's why I left you alone for the past two days. Look, I don't want to make you angry anymore. Even these past few days when I've been trying to talk to you-I was still being selfish. All I cared about was getting my best friend back. I still only thought of myself."

Danny finally looked up. "What are you trying to say?"

"All I'm saying is that I'm done trying to get you to forgive me. I'm done being selfish. I don't want to be another problem for you."

"Oh. So you're just trying to-"

"Yes. I-I'm trying to say...good-bye."

Danny stared at her intently. In that instance, almost all anger he still felt was gone.

"Sam, no. Don't think like that, ok? You weren't being selfish, you just wanted to undo everything. I understand that. I still don't really trust you anymore, but it could change after a while."

"Ok. I won't disappear then. I'll just see you around school. Bye Danny."

As she left, Danny's ghost sense suddenly went off. He looked in the direction that Sam went and saw that the ghost lion was back-and that Sam was walking towards it!

''Sam, look out!"

She looked up and saw the ghost staring at her and growling angrily. She cowered and walked slowly around the ghost and when she was further away she started running. The ghost started chasing after her. While running after the ghost Danny yelled out, ''Sam! I'm coming-I'm going ghost!" He transformed and started flying after the ghost. He rammed into it at full speed and when he had a firm grip on the ghost, he went intangible and pushed the it through the ground and back out about 25 feet from where Sam was. Like last time, he fired some blasts at the lion but it fought back again. It lunged at him and pinned him again, but he had enough energy to shove it off. As he wrestled with it he pinned it to the ground and had just enough time to call out to Sam, ''Sam, run home and get the thermos-and anything else you can find! Hurry!"

"Alright-hold on!"

As Sam left, Danny looked at her and whispered, '_Please hurry, Sam. Not much time left...'_

Sam ran downstairs into the basement of Danny's house and got the thermos, little smoke making things(let's leave it at that, ok?) and the Jack-A-Ninetails(J.A.N.T.-to make it shorter). She wasn't going to abandon him this time. While she was there she quickly called Tucker and told him what was going on. He said he would call Paulina and they'd be at the park as soon as they could. Not wanting to waste any time walking she went to the shed for Danny's scooter and rode it back to the park. '_I hope he doesn't kill me for borrowing his scooter...' _she thought.

When she got back to the park she saw that the ghost was winning again and that Danny was having trouble. He fought as hard as he could but the ghost dodged most of the blasts and the punches didn't seem to be weakening it. It only got angrier. It tackled Danny one last time, shocked him, got up and hit him with it's massive paw. He didn't get thrown as far as last time, but it left him on the brink of unconciousness and he slipped back into human form. "Danny!" Sam ran to him, but the lion was close behind, not wanting to give up on Danny. It smacked Sam into a nearby bush, wanting the girl out of the way.

Danny perked up. "No!" he yelled. He tried to get up but he was too sore-and the ghost was heading straight for him..

Sam shook her head, got up and ran as fast as she could. She jumped in front of Danny to protect him and threw the little smoke making things in the lion's direction. It stopped long enough for Sam to whisper to Danny, 'It won't take too much longer.".

Danny was a little nervous and said, ''Sam, please be careful."

Sam got back up then got the J.A.N.T. Right before the smoke cleared she ran as far away from where Danny was as possible to minimize the possibility of him getting in any more danger. She yelled, ''Hey shaggy, over here!" The ghost started to run at her but she pressed the little button on the J.A.N.T. and it wrapped around the ghost in an instant. She pulled it as tight as she could, spun around and with all of her strength she whipped the ghost foward, causing it to get squeazed harder until it ended up as a big pile of ectoplasmic goo. She sucked all of the goo into the thermos and walked over to Danny and sat down.

"Danny, are you ok?"

"Uh...yeah, I'm ok. Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. Thanks for helping me."

"Why wouldn't I? I didn't want to make the same stupid mistake I made before."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds when Danny started up again.

"Listen, Sam, I-"

He was interrupted when he saw her start to get up to leave. He was still a little upset with her, but he knew in his heart that she was sorry beyond reason and regretted everything she'd done to him. Despite being sore, he got up and grabbed Sam, spun her around and hugged her. His 'friend instinct' kicked in and he felt he had no choice but to comfort her and to let her apologize for the zillionth time. Sam squeazed him tightly and apologized-again.

"Danny, I'm so sorry I hurt you! I wasn't thinking at all...I'm such an idiot!"

"Sam, look at me."

She stopped hugging him and did what she was told. Danny grabbed her shoulders and held them firmly.

"Don't call yourself an idiot, ok? You're not. I made the same kind of mistake once-remember? I made a bad choice being swayed by the 'in-crowd' and I almost lost you and Tucker."

He put his arms down and watched Sam pace uncomfortably until she stopped in front of him again.

"But this was different! I went way too far and didn't help you when you needed me! You said yourself, that you could've gotten killed."

''Sam, I was just angry. I exaggerated. Even Tucker tried to reason with me, but I wouldn't listen. The worst that could've happened to me was getting a broken arm or something. It's still bad, but it's better than dying, right?"

"I guess."

They stood there in silence for a few moments. Sam looked down and said one more thing.

"You know, if you still hate me and never want to speak to me again, I'll understand. You helped me and I returned the favor."

She knew that he would still hate her for what she did and she had no hope that he'd forgive her, but she still had to know. After what felt like an eternity, Danny finally answered her.

"Well, to be completely honest, it _will _be quite a while before I trust you again. And I'm still getting over what happened with the whole insult thing and the ghost fight..."

Sam turned away and said quietly, ''I understand. We can't change the past, and I can't change what I did. Bye, Danny"

Once again she turned to leave, but Danny grabbed her hand and held it firmly. She stared at him timidly.

"Sam, I'm not done."

''Sorry."

"Anyway, as I was about to say, I'm getting over it-slowly. I'm just not ready to let go of what happened."

"I didn't think you would be. Just like I shouldn't expect you to forgive me."

"Still, I know you're sorry. I know you regret everything, but I'm not ready to completely forgive you. At least not yet."

''I know."

"It really hurt me, Sam. You have no idea how painful things have been for me lately. And this might stay with me for quite a while, you know?"

"Yeah. Well, so much for not apologizing anymore. Anyway, I have to go. Do you want me to leave your scooter here, or should I bring it back to your house?"

"Uh...you can put it back in my shed, if you want."

''Ok. Bye Danny."

As she was leaving, Tucker and Paulina came running over to them.

"We came as fast as we could, are you guys ok?" Tuck asked.

Danny looked at Sam. Sam looked at Danny. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Danny smiled slightlyand said, "Yeah. We'll be fine."

They all stared at him in amazement when they understood what he meant. Sam grinned and kept going. Tuck and Paulina were speechless.

Ok, this was probably a disappointment to those of you who wanted him to stay mad forever.

Tough-this is the way it is.

And if you're one of those types of people, then you probably won't like the next chapter either.

If, however, you are glad that things are getting better, then you will(hopefully) like the next chapter. I actually teared up as I wrote it. It won't be too fluffy, but it should be emotional enough to make you shed at least 1 tear...

maybe more...


	13. Chapter 13: Let It Out Together

Chapter 13. Let It Out Together

Things were better for everyone within the next week. Nick was happy to see that Sam was happy again. Jack, Maddie, and Jazz were glad that Danny was slowly coming out of his depression. Tucker and Paulina were just glad that their friends were starting to patch things up. Sam and Danny made plans to meet at the park on an afternoon (no, not a date!) to talk for a while. '_He sure does spend a lot of time there' _she thought as soon as he mentioned meeting there.

When she arrived, he was standing on a small bridge that stood over a little lake. He was staring intently at the water.

"Danny?"

He looked up and grinned.

"Hey Sam."

''Hi."

They talked for a while and Danny slowly started to enjoy her company again, which they both thought would never happen in a million years-until now.

Eventually a few seconds of silence passed and Sam chuckled softly with a few little tears of regret brimming her lavender eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing-you're probably tired of me mentioning what I did."

"No, Sam, it doesn't matter anymore-you can tell me."

"It's just that-with the way I was acting, I completely forgot how sensitive you are and how delicate your feelings are. And thinking about that makes me feel even worse, even now. I just can't believe what I did. I scarred you for life and didn't even care."

"Try not to let it bother you so much. You'll end up being miserable for the rest of your life, and I don't want that."

"Are you sure?"

''Yes. I'm letting it go. I never thought it would happen, but I'm putting it behind me."

They stared into the water, thoughts racing through their heads. After a few seconds, Danny spoke up.

"Were you really trying to say good-bye?"

"Yeah, I was. Like I said, I didn't want to cause you anymore problems. And I still don't."

"Well, like I said, I don't want you to walk out on me again!"

For the first time in front of Sam, very unexpected tears started to form in Danny's eyes.

"Losing you was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I never wanted you out of my life-ever. And especially not now."

"Really?"

"Yes! Sam, the moment you left us I knew that things were gonna get rough. The worst moment of my life was when you left me behind. Please...don't make me go through it again. I just- I can't take that kind of heartache anymore."

As soon as he said that, both of them were crying. They were on the ground in each other's arms letting it all out. Danny had done a lot of crying during his state of depression, but these tears were flowing continuously as he let go of all of the pain that was still pent up inside him this whole time. Sam finally felt Danny's true pain and she took it all in as best she could. When they calmed down a bit, Danny said, "So much for putting it behind me, huh?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Danny,"

He looked at her.

"Danny, I swear, I will never hurt you, in any way ever again. I promise."

"Alright. And as I said before, I forgive you."

"I thought I was never going to be in your arms again. I missed you, so much."

''I missed you too. All I thought about through this whole thing was how mad I was. I guess I never realized how much I missed you."

Sam grinned. Danny wasn't done though. There was one more thing he wanted to say. One more thing that was nagging him-and had been nagging him since 7th grade.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I-I have to tell you something. In fact, I've been wanting to tell you for years now."

She knew what he was saying.

"Sam, I-"

"Danny, I know. Nick and Jazz photo copied some of your journal pages and-"

Danny kissed her mid-sentence. She always hated being interrupted, but this was definitely an exception. It was gentle, but full of love. Just how she imagined her first real kiss would be-with him. No one else but him.

"I love you." he whispered.

"I don't care if I knew that already or not. I've been waiting so long to hear you say that."

They both smiled.

"Danny, I love you too. Now, more than ever." They both blushed and kissed again.

Arms around each other in a warm, loving embrace, they sat there staring at the water. For the first time in a long time, they were truly happy again. With Sam in his arms, Danny felt a calm sensation overcome him. He breathed in the crisp evening air and finally felt at peace again.


End file.
